Category Archives: Protect Yourself

Post navigation

On Saturday, April 15, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mentor Public Library invites Mentor residents and library patrons to bring documents to be shredded to the Main Library’s auxiliary parking lot at the corner of Mentor Avenue and Sharonlee Drive (map).

Mentor Public Library is hosting the Community Paper Shred event in partnership with XPress Shredding of Mentor, at no cost to the library or participants. The event will go on no matter the weather: rain or shine, or even (oh, please, no!) snow.

(credit: Mentor Public Library)

How much of your paper will be accepted?

Bring as many as five paper-storage boxes of documents (paper grocery bags are acceptable), which will be:

Unloaded from your car (you don’t need to get out of your vehicle).

Placed into locked bins.

Moved to a secured truck attended at all times by XPress Shredding staff.

Taken to XPress Shredding’s facility to be thoroughly destroyed.

Finally, recycled.

Protect your identity: shred your documents, and Keep Them Out of the Landfill.

Want to stay in touch with the latest in recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page.

On Saturday, April 15, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mentor Public Library invites Mentor residents and library patrons to bring documents to be shredded to the Main Library’s auxiliary parking lot at the corner of Mentor Avenue and Sharonlee Drive (map).

Mentor Public Library is hosting the Community Paper Shred event in partnership with XPress Shredding of Mentor, at no cost to the library or participants. The event will go on no matter the weather: rain or shine, or even (oh, please, no!) snow.

(credit: Mentor Public Library)

How much paper of your paper will be accepted?

Bring as many as five paper-storage boxes of documents (paper grocery bags are acceptable), which will be:

Unloaded from your car (you don’t need to get out of your vehicle).

Placed into locked bins.

Moved to a secured truck attended at all times by XPress Shredding staff.

Taken to XPress Shredding’s facility to be thoroughly destroyed.

Finally, recycled.

Protect your identity: shred your documents, and Keep Them Out of the Landfill.

Want to stay in touch with the latest in recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page.

For several years, some of my friends and family have been telling me that they won’t donate to or shop at Goodwill Industries because their chief executive is overpaid and their workers get paid very little.

I finally checked this out. According to Snopes.com (accurate information for Goodwill is about 4/5 of the way down the page), it was never true, and it certainly isn’t true now.

The Solid Waste District collects hazardous wastes because they are dangerous to people, pets, and the environment. Take them to the Lake County Fairgrounds on hazardous waste collection day, and you will Keep Them Out of the Landfill.

Cuyahoga County Residents: Household hazardous waste is collected in Cuyahoga by each municipality’s service department. See the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management District’s Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Program web page for information about municipal collections.

If the drugs are in your home, they pose a hazard to children and pets.

If you flush them, they contaminate the local water supply and give your neighbors unsuspected doses of narcotics, hormones, antibiotics, steroids, and other potentially dangerous substances.

If you toss them into the trash, they may end up in the hands of scavengers who will resell them.

If they make it to the landfill, they become toxic waste that contaminates groundwater.

Until recently, safe disposal of old medications has meant waiting for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Drug Take-Back Initiative. Now, however, rather than waiting for the next National Take-Back Day, Cuyahoga and Lake County residents have much better options.

Cuyahoga County

Under the new Sheriff’s RX Drug Drop Box Program, Cuyahoga County residents can deposit unused, unwanted, or expired prescription drugs at drop boxes located at participating local law enforcement agencies across Cuyahoga County.

Click here to find Cuyahoga County drop boxes for your location, and click here more information about the program. Click here for information about disposing of other unwanted medications, including needles, liquids, and over-the-counter preparations.

Lake County

Lake County residents can take their unused, unwanted, or expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs to one of the seven Lake County Opiate Task Force drug disposal drop-off bins.

For more information about the Lake County program, including drop box locations, operating hours, and accepted materials, see my May 27, 2012 blog post. Lake County residents can obtain refrigerator magnets listing drop box locations and accepted materials from the News-Herald reception desk (map) and the Mentor Discount Drug Mart pharmacy department (map).

Lake County Opiate Task Force Refrigerator Magnet

Unused drugs are hazardous waste: keep them out of the wrong hands … keep them out of our water … keep them out of the landfill.

Carver Financial Services, Mentor’s nationally recognized financial services organization, is once again teaming up with Northcoast Shredding Services to help you get rid of those vulnerable, sensitive, confidential documents — the cancelled checks, health information, credit card statements and other records that are so attractive to the wrong people.

Shredded documents will be sent to a paper mill and recycled.
(Photo credit: Northcoast Recycling)

On Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can take up to three boxes of paper documents to Carver Financial Services at 7473 Center Street (map) in Mentor, where Mentor High School National Honor Society volunteers will help unload them from your vehicle. (Please, no binders, large metal clips, magazines, or newspapers.)

Northcoast Shredding Services will have a mobile shredding unit on-site. Once they have shredded your documents, the shreds will be sent to a paper mill and properly recycled.

The shredding service is free, but Carver Financial Services will be accepting donations of non-perishable food items for local food banks. For more information, see the Carver Financial Services website.